CHAPTER 1
Cora Black breathed a sigh of relief as she left the hospital.
After five long hours of waiting in the Emergency Room, she’d finally managed to receive treatment for her brutal migraine attack. She could feel the painkillers kicking in as she made her way down the street. If only they actually killed the pain completely. She was beyond that now, though. Any relief was a frigging miracle. They were getting worse every time. The hospital was only a few blocks from her apartment, and she’d had to pull her Harley over on the side of the road three times, because the piercing pain had been so intense.
My God.
Sweating profusely from the ordeal, she unzipped her motorcycle jacket to get some relief. She shook out her damp hair and wiped the beads of perspiration from her brow with the back of her hand. Shaking out her white tank top, she relished the fan-like effect on her overheated skin. Her leather pants weren’t really helping the situation. Nor were her biker boots that stretched all the way up her calves.
As she reached the alley where she’d parked her bike, a familiar sensation coursed through her.
A rush of energy. Dark energy.
Her early detection system.
It was an instinctual gift she’d possessed for as long as she could remember.
It’d proved vital in her former line of work. Life-and-death vital.
She tensed, her body automatically readying for the potential fight that lay ahead. “Dammit,” she murmured under her breath. An altercation of any kind was the last thing she needed right now. Not to mention, it’d been five long years since she’d actually engaged anyone in battle.
So much for turning my back on it all.
A rapid-fire scan of the area had her zoning in on the source of the dark energy within a matter of seconds.
A man stood leaning against her bike. She narrowed her eyes at his audacity. What the hell was he playing at? His arrogance clearly knew no bounds, because he looked up and smirked at her as she reached him.
“Who are you?”
He adjusted the collar of his three-quarter-length leather coat and sat forward, resting his hands on his black slacks. Instead of answering her, he merely flashed her a smile. He cocked his head to the side, his eyes running all over her body, taking her in. He brushed his shoulder-length, jet-black hair out of his eyes and just continued to regard her silently.
“Look, how about you walk away now, huh? No harm, no foul? I’ll give you a free pass.”
He snickered.
“I’m a lot stronger than I look,” she warned.
“I am well aware,” he finally spoke. Amusement danced in his eyes.
“Is that so?”
“I know more about you than you do. For one, I know you’re more than a Seeker. Your demon-hunting profession is just the tip of the iceberg.”
What. The. Hell?
Cora’s mother had started the movement. It had begun as a small band of vigilantes whose mission was to protect the human populace in their given town or city from supernatural attacks. It’d spread quickly. Those who her mother had trained had gone on to train others and it’d evolved into a worldwide movement that’d continued beyond her mother’s death several years ago. Cora had followed in her mother’s footsteps as a teenager. But, upon her death, she’d walked away. She’d had little choice, as her health issues had her incapacitated too much of the time.
“What do you want, vampire?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “You know what I am. It seems you haven’t turned your back on the supernatural world entirely then. You’re still using your gift for sensing supernatural energy.”
“How do you know about that?” Seekers were human, through and through. Her gift was solely her thing. She didn’t know where it came from.
Once again, he avoided answering her question. Instead, he told her, “Your life here is mundane.” His eyes flashed. “Human.”
“Well that works out well, because I am human.”
He shook his head with disbelief. “The manipulation they’ve inflicted upon you is truly astounding.”
“What?” Cora snapped, becoming more than a little agitated with all his cryptic crap.
He shot out his arm with lightning speed, his hand clamping down tightly around her wrist. The suddenness of it had her gasping aloud.
An intense rush of something akin to static electricity shot through her arm, making her entire body reverberate. Rapid-fire flashes of images, places, and people she couldn’t place inundated her. An old man dressed in shimmering robes. A silver palace. Explosions of white light, blasts of different shades of magic.
She jumped back, wrenching her arm from the vampire’s grip.
“Oh my God.”
She fought to catch her breath and reconcile what the hell it was that she’d just seen.
She looked at the vampire, failing to hide her utter astonishment. “What the hell did you just do to me?”
“I awakened you.”
“You did what?”
“I tapped into your power and brought it forth. It’s been dormant for a very long time. A safeguard to protect you from the dangers of this world.”
“My power?”
He sauntered closer. “Yes, you possess great power, far beyond your ability to sense supernatural creatures.”
“You’re crazy.” She brushed past him, heading for her bike, but he stood in her path before she could blink. Damned vamp speed.
“You know I am speaking the truth. You can feel it. Open your mind.”
“No.” She ran to her bike and yelled over her shoulder, “Stay away from me.”
“Impossible.”
A sudden rush of cold air hit her. The next thing she knew, she was pinned up against a brick wall, several feet away from her bike, his hands gripping her arms tightly, holding her still.
She stared up at him. His eyes were glowing a fiery red. She’d never seen anything like it in any vampire before during her Seeker days. When a vampire changed and let the demon rise within, their pupils dilated, and their eyes became deep pools of black. A red glow did not come into it.
But that wasn’t what really shocked her.
It was the sudden wave of desire that’d taken hold of her the moment he had.
“What… what’s happening?” she choked out, barely able to handle the intensity.
“I didn’t just awaken your power. I removed the failsafe.”
“Stop with the cryptic responses!”
“Your inability to find another desirable.”
Cora was dumbfounded. She couldn’t find the words to respond.
“You are twenty-five. Ripe now. The failsafe is no longer necessary now that the time has come.”
“What are you talking about? You’re saying that my sexual… issues… are a result of some overarching plan? My God, that’s sick. Demented.”
“It was the only way to ensure you remained pure, until the time came.”
He kept saying that. “What time?”
“The time for me to take you as my bride.”
“Excuse me?”
“You are betrothed to me,” he said, pushing against her.
Just that slight touch had her reacting intensely. Her nipples hardened, chafing against her tank top. Warm heat pooled between her legs. She was new to the sensations—now she knew why—and it overwhelmed her with ease, making her putty in his hands.
His breath was hot on her neck as he whispered, “You are mine.”
Instead of pushing him away, she let out a breathy moan and sank against the wall.
“Your body wants me, Cora,” he said, adjusting his weight and grinding against her.
She swallowed hard when she felt the length of his rock-hard dick between her legs, rubbing against that perfect spot. It had her thrusting her hips up to meet him, to create more of that delicious friction.
He licked her neck.
That act sparked a warning in her brain. An instinctual alert.
Vampire!
She thrust her hands out at him. He snarled and careened backwards several feet. What on earth?
Looking down at her hands, she was startled to see shimmering silver balls of magic emanating from both upturned palms.
“Your shields,” he said, beaming at her. “You see now? You see what you truly are? Who you truly are? So much more than what you’ve been led to believe.”
She stepped forward and he jerked back. Huh. He’s afraid? How powerful am I to be able to scare a vampire?”
“Very powerful, my princess.”
Her eyes shot to his. “You heard that? I was thinking it.”
Smiling with amusement at her clear naivety, he explained, “You are bound to me. It enables a mind-link between us. I can read your thoughts, if I so choose.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Luca, Vampire Prince.”
“Prince? You’re serious?”
“As serious as I am that you are mine.” His gaze became molten. “Princess.”
No way. “Uh uh. This is insane. Awakenings. Betrothals. Now you’re saying I’m some sort of princess? Come on, vampire.”
“Luca,” he ground out, getting his back up.
She threw up her hands. “I can’t… this is fucked.”
“It’s a lot to absorb. I understand that. But you know it is all true. Listen to your instincts, princess.”
“Stop calling me that!”
He tried to reach out, but she thrust her palm out, threatening him with her newfound magic. To her dismay, it merely sputtered.
“Fine. You may take your leave of me. For now. I will give you space to find acceptance with all that I have revealed to you. And then I will come to you and take you with me, where you belong.”
“I belong to no one, vampire!”
He shook his head sadly and said, “There is so much you do not know.”
His words unnerved her, and it had her missing a step as she backed away from him towards her bike.
She took one last look at him, then gunned her Harley and sped away.